UDRP

Decision to form interim group: Carey (chair), Stubbs, Park.

TLDs

Decision to postpone interim committee until first representative from a new gTLD is appointed to NC and to review this decision at the Stockholm meeting if no such appointment has been made by then.

Whois

Interim committee has already been formed: Kane (chair), Park, Robles, Aus der Muhlen, Schneider, Swinehart, Cochetti.

ccTLDs

Action lies with the ccTLD constituency to inform the NC.

Multilingual Domain Names

Decision to form interim committee: Park (chair), Forsyth, IPC rep to be nominated.

Review

Decision to form interim committee: Swinehart (chair), Mueller, Roberts, Harris, Carey.

NC Secretariat

A search committee has already been formed: Roberts (chair), Gomes, Porteneuve.

Funding

a) Invoices for constituency fees are to be sent out by ICANN for 2001.

b) ICANN staff requested to find a consultant to hire the technical/organisational entity to be the new secretariat. Maximum cost for this is $5000 as specified within the $12000 budget item previously approved for professional services. Suggestions by NC members welcome latest 19 March.

c) Decision D2:

The Names Council authorises the budget committee to spend up to $15000 to cover the continuation of secretarial, website and related service for the period April 1 — June 30. Proposed: Cochetti, seconded: Roberts. All in favour with Kane abstaining.

d) The NC requested the budget committee to ensure completion of the work of the consultant and the hiring of a new organisation as secretariat by end June 2001.

e) The start of the work of the search committee to recruit a person as NC secretary is contingent upon the start of the call for voluntary funds to match the $100000 fund proposed by Verisign. That call is contingent upon the establishment of a bank account for such funds. The Budget committee is still discussing the choice between using ICANN as the host for such an account or establishing an independent corporation. The NC chair directs the budget committee to make a recommendation to the regular NC meeting scheduled in April.

1. The new proposed Verisign-NSI/ICANN Agreement published last week represents a substantive policy change and involves a fundamental shift in the structure of competition. The proposed change comes as a surprise and is a source of significant concern to many stakeholders.

2. Such a change would require careful consideration by the DNSO constituencies and the Internet community. It cannot be considered except in accordance with due process allowing a reasonable time for the constituencies to consider and comment on the proposed changes.

3. The ICANN Board should not be precipitated into any decision until full consideration has been given to this issue in accordance with ICANN’s procedures and the DNSO consultation process

There have been occasions where ICANN Staff publishes out documents while constituents are in transit on the way to meetings. Examples include GAC letter, status quo document, NSI-ICANN contract revision proposal, etc.

This practice does not allow proper time for consultation and comment, particularly for non-native English speakers. Some colleagues have privately expressed a feeling that this practice may be deliberate, particularly since it seems to repeat itself at each physical meeting.

While we can understand that the urgencies of the moment do not always allow for long lead times, and that ICANN is, in general, understaffed, the DNSO needs to address this issue in a pro-active manner.

This communiqué from the NC to the ICANN staff may help to alleviate the frustration of the constituency members affected by this practice. We encourage the ICANN staff to manifest an increased level of sensitivity in this area in the future.